Blessed are the poor in
spirit… —Matthew 5:3
“What good is there in
telling me to be what I can never be— to be “pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8), to
do more than my duty, or to be completely devoted to God? I must know Jesus
Christ as my Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that
of a lofty ideal which only leads to despair. But when I am born again by the
Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come only to teach— He came to
make me what He teaches I should be. […] The teaching of the Sermon on the
Mount produces a sense of despair in the natural man— exactly what Jesus means
for it to do. As long as we have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out
our Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own
ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. […] The underlying
foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making
decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we
finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed
are you…” (Matthew 5:11).” CHAMBERS
Do you struggle with trying
to live the Christian life? Do you feel
like a hypocrite? You profess one thing
.. “I love Jesus” and yet you live a life that is in constant turmoil from the
sin that hounds you? The lesson there is
that we need Jesus to live the new life that is ours. Obedience is a product of faith not the root
of it. You do not have the capacity to
resist sin today, any more that you did the day before you were born
again. Your new life is Spiritual. Old things are passed away (2 Corinthians
5:17) meaning that you are living with a new set of rules. You cannot do spiritual things without the
power of the Spirit in you. God provides a way to resist temptation (1 Corinthians
10:13). Temptation is the first step on
the path to sin. (James 1:14-16) Read
the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5:2-16. It seems like a strange teaching when first
read. It is spiritual truth about the
spiritual life. It all starts with depending only upon God and
ends in the same place. Do you want your life to change? Stop trusting in yourself to be holy and
trust God who is Holy. CHARLEY
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